Central America is leading the way in dealing with the toxic after effects of glyphosate. El Salvador is the latest country to ban the chemical, which is the main ingredient in Roundup, in conjunction with 52 other dangerous chemicals.

The press release by El Salvador Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources illustrates that the law on the control of pesticides, fertilizers and products for agricultural use was amended by a majority vote of members of the FMLN, Unidos por El salvador and GANA.

Among the list of the banned 53 chemicals are Paraquat, Glyphosate (Roundup) and Endosulfan.

The ban is a result of a pervasive kidney disease that has afflicted the region’s agricultural workers, raising considerable concern with the Central America’s Health Ministry who proclaimed an investigation into the cause of the kidney disease as a top public health priority; committing to a series of steps to curtail the disease.

The ban by the Central American country is in direct contrast to the environmental protection agency of the United States recently increasing the levels of tolerable glyphosate that can be applied to food.